Distracted Fate
by MegKF
Summary: Under normal circumstances Xander Harris and Harry Potter would never have even known the other existed. So I'm sure to some it might seem weird that after Harry's parents died his fate changed along with Xander's.
1. Prolog

_Buffy_ is owned by Mutant Enemy and _Harry Potter_ is owned by a lot of people… No copyright infringement is intended. Fanfiction is, in my opinion, free advertisement. There are many things I've bought because I enjoyed fanfiction that crossed into a new fandom. I encourage everyone to purchase these products.

**Distracted Fate - Prolog**

Now under normal circumstances Xander Harris and Harry Potter would never have even known the other existed. But then again neither of them were normal anyway. Their lives began on the same path as fate had originally planned until the day after destiny made its first move for The Boy Who Lived.

You see Aunt Petunia wasn't very pleased suddenly finding a baby on her porch, in fact she was downright ####ed off. As she read the note left with Harry Potter by Albus Dumbledore who didn't even have the courtesy to even sick around do they could say now, she glared at it so intently she noticed that it didn't really say SHE had to have him, just some blood relative. She remembered writing out so many notices to obscure relatives when Dudley was born, now her Dudders was a good normal boy, she wouldn't have minded so much having another forced on her if the child was going to be normal. Harry meant having to deal with magical people, something she's hoped not to have to deal with once Lily had finished at that *shudder* school.

Petunia turned to Vernon and all but commanded him, "Go up to the attic and get down that box with all my mothers stuff in it."

"But," Vernon started to say. He just wanted to take the boy to an orphanage.

"Do it!" Petunia almost shouted at him, Vernon turned and moved quickly, he couldn't really run anymore he was so out of shape, towards the attic. He didn't know it then but at that moment his marriage took an interesting turn where Petunia became alpha of their little family.

'Yes,' Petunia thought to herself, 'we might not have a lot of close relatives but we've got a lot of them. Mother was really good about keeping track of them too. I just need to get him as far away from here as possible to anyone who shares our blood. I think we even have some family in America and Australia. I just need to pick someone who will probably take him, it'll be easy.'

Petunia smiled as Vernon returned carrying a small dusty box. She opened it up, ignoring the dust that spread around it as she focused on the contents. Using the simple focus she usually only used to gossip she went quickly through the files, mostly photos, that were her mother's unique family tracking system. She quickly eliminated any family that lived near her, placing them all in a pile far from her. She quickly formed other piles. She finished quickly and soon she was looking through the pile closest to her, filled with relatives in America. She eliminated some of those just as quickly, they already had several kids, they were possibly too distant a relation to hide Harry. After all if these wards Dumbledore wrote of relied on blood he might just bring the boy back if they were too weak.

'Perfect,' Petunia thought to herself as she looked at the choices in front of her, Both second cousins in America. Now she just had to contact them and see if either would take him in, Mary Winchester and Jessica Harris. If not she'd go through one of the other piles, like the relatives in Australia. She's find someone no matter what. After all, these people had no idea Harry was a freak and by the time they know it'll be too late.

Several international phone calls later Petunia learned that Mary had died in a fire, her family had moved and there was no forwarding contact for them. She also learned that Jessica was a nurse and more than willing to take in a distant relative, especially one so young, seems she couldn't have any more kids after complications after having her son and they'd wanted a couple of kids. Petunia just had to prove that Harry was related to them and it would be over.

It took a couple of weeks and a lot of paperwork but it was all worth it to Petunia if it meant she wouldn't have to deal with wizards ever again. She smiled so large when her nephew was taken into a plane, hopefully never to be seen again. A couple of long place rides later and Harry Potter opened his eyes to look up at Alexander 'Xander' Harris who had spent the hours after Harry's arrival staring at him in awe while he slept in Xander's old crib. He was a big brother now. And he was going to be the best big brother he could be.

**End - Prolog**

REVIEWS INSPIRE ME

_I started another fic! I'm evil! I keep wanting to write more to my other fics when I get distracted with ideas like this… Hopefully this'll be short since I was originally planning this to be a one-shot. I AM messing with the time lines a little. Hope you all liked the Supernatural mention, I had to hold back a ton of other mentions to even more shows…_


	2. Chapter 1

_Buffy_ is owned by Mutant Enemy and _Harry Potter_ is owned by a lot of people… No copyright infringement is intended. Fanfiction is, in my opinion, free advertisement. There are many things I've bought because I enjoyed fanfiction that crossed into a new fandom. I encourage everyone to purchase these products.

**Distracted Fate – Chapter 1**

According to the ancient Greeks, a man's fate was decided by the Moerae, three sisters also referred to as the Fates, who decided such things as the length of a man's life and how good or evil he might be. It is said that they even predate the Gods and as such they were respected and possibly feared, for the extent of their powers were unknown. And although most people didn't think of them often, they still exist, and... well… they're overworked. In four thousand years they'd gone from deciding the destiny of a mere 27 million people at a time to 6 billion. So it's understandable that some people's destinies weren't fulfilled as they'd planned.

In fact this is what caused the rise of some subgroups of wanna-bes, the most well known of these include the Elders and the Powers That Be. The Elders took over guarding the lines of natural born wiccans while the Powers That Be took over keeping the lives of champions on track. Of course, neither group are officially aligned with the Fates and as such sometimes totally mess up.

Young Xander Harris was already 8 years old and was currently holding his new baby brother, Harry Potter, aged 16 months, in his arms. And since right now neither of them had any important destiny, or anyone near by who did, no one realized that a certain baby wasn't where he was supposed to be, after all he still had his blood wards hiding him from Death Eaters.

Xander was happy. Sure he and Harry weren't that close age wise, but Xander wasn't going to let that stop him. In fact Xander was developing his loyalty to an extreme he wouldn't have had until after Jesse's death in his original destiny. He turned to smile at his friends Jesse and Willow who were both over this weekend. It was the first time he'd really invited them outside of things like his birthday. He's always been embarrassed to let them in, but his mom hadn't drunk anything in weeks, not since her cousin Petunia called. The house was even spotless.

Xander didn't know that the reason his mother was always so unhappy was originally because she'd found out she couldn't have more children after Xander. It wasn't even that that fact had been so overwhelmingly depressing, she'd just gotten drunk after she'd found out for sure and hadn't gotten happier since she'd never stopped drinking long enough. Jessica had even started going to AA meetings, she'd dragged Tony with her too. They'd drop off both Xander and Willow at Jesse's home where his parents would watch them and they'd get picked up after the meetings on their way back.

Jessica smiled as she took in Xander's determination as she showed him the best way to hold Harry. She held back a giggle as Willow tried to duplicate it herself. Jessica had realized as she watched her son that he'd grown up a lot while she's been so unhappy. She also realized that Willow was trying to get her approval, although she wasn't sure if that was because Willow wanted a mother's approval or a mother-in-law's approval. Jessica laughed softly as she gently guided Willows arms to hold Harry more firmly. It wasn't like they'd get much more time to hold him like this, he was already crawling around the house like crazy when he wasn't sleeping, eating, pooping, or being held.

Jessica got up to bring the kids some more juice as they played with Harry. Jessica frowned, taking out some cups, as she thought about Willow's parents. 'They aren't home often. Maybe I should offer to let Willow stay with us when they are going to be away for awhile. It'll be alright until Xander finally realizes that Willow is a girl,' Jessica thought to herself.

Laughter erupted from Jessica as she caught sight of the kids when she returned to the living room. Xander and Willow were both trying to show Jesse how to hold Harry, while at the same time Harry was wanting not to be held at all. She wished for a moment that she had a camera on hand to take a photo.

That night, after Jesse had gone home and Willow was settled in a sleeping bag in Xander's room and both her boys were sleeping, Jessica turned to her husband, "I want to go back to school and finish my classes to be a nurse."

"What?" Tony asked surprised. Jessica had stopped taking classes after she'd become pregnant with Xander and had never returned.

"It's something I want to do," she explained. "We have two sons now, and I want to make sure their futures are provided for. I already spoke with Susan, Jesse's mom, and she said she'd be more than happy to watch Harry while I'm in class."

Tony nodded, as much as he liked being the bread winner he knew if the kids wanted to go to college this would help. "Whatever will make you happy."

"I want to. It's for me just as much as for Alexander and Harry."

"That reminds me Honey," Tony said pulling Jessica close, "we're Harry's legal guardians and we've already filed all the paperwork to official adopt him, but what are we going to do about him name?"

Jessica hummed softly, snuggling into her husband's chest, "What do you mean?"

"We don't want to call him Harry Harris do we? But if he keeps the name Potter he doesn't seem to be ours as much."

Jessica tilted her head back to look at Tony's face. He hadn't been as interested in having another child at first, at least not one that wasn't his, but Harry had wrapped Tony around his little finger as soon as he'd arrived. It'd helped that Tony was sober, he was starting to become a mean drunk. She smiled at his serious expression, he really wanted Harry to be a Harris.

"Let's make his name James Harry Potter Harris? We'll rearrange his name. As much as I already love him, I don't want to take away anything his original parents gave him."

"James Harris? James Harris. I like it. Alexander and James Harris. Our sons."

**End – Chapter 1**

REVIEWS INSPIRE ME

_This still seemed a bit like setting up to me, but I liked it anyway. Two chapters in as many days! YAY! I think I'm going to attempt to mention some crossover that has nothing to do with the overall story in every chapter, I hope I can pull it off. This time it was Charmed. I'm so happy and flattered that so many people have already reviewed/alerted/favorited (32) this story in about 26 hours._


	3. Chapter 2

_Buffy_ is owned by Mutant Enemy and _Harry Potter_ is owned by a lot of people… No copyright infringement is intended. Fanfiction is, in my opinion, free advertisement. There are many things I've bought because I enjoyed fanfiction that crossed into a new fandom. I encourage everyone to purchase these products.

**Distracted Fate – Chapter 2**

Clotho is the youngest of the fates, the one who spins the threads of life that determine when someone is born. It is said that she is the one who decides if someone can be saved and even how good or bad a person they will be. Of course, no matter how good or bad someone is, good people can do bad things and bad people can do good things. After all, most people agree the Albus Dumbledore is a good man. Being a good man did not stop him from leaving a young child alone on a doorstep on a cold November day, several hours before anyone was going to be awake to notice him. Or how an expert head henchman once introduced as, "his name's Jaws, he kills people," chose to save his girlfriend which in turn meant helping save the world. Perhaps it could be said that not only is the path to hell paved with good intentions, but that the road to heaven is paved with bad intentions? In either case the goodness that was in Xander was never meant to be in contact with the goodness inside Harry, at least that's one person's theory. Because whenever they are together, which is almost always, the others around them become better people.

Xander smiled happily as he growled and chased H-James around Jesse's house. Christmas/Hanukkah had come and gone. With it came the best present, Harry, now James Harris, was legally his brother. His mom had gotten into a great program to become a nurse and was taking several classes not only with the program but also at one of the near by colleges to learn other things that she thought might help her be a better nurse. Xander didn't really care about these details, he was having too much fun.

James giggled as he ran his childish best away from Xander. The discovery that James already knew how to walk occurred not long after he arrived in Sunnydale. He had had some nightmares that were slowly fading, but his cries had woken everyone up a couple nights that first week. When trying to comfort him he'd walk away from the others to Xander, who was ecstatic that his new little brother wanted him to comfort him. The Harris parents didn't know for sure, but suspected that James remembered the car crash that had taken his parents' lives.

Jesse jumped out from around the couch forcing James to take another course, which cause him to rush into Willow's arms. She whirled him around carefully before she walked to the couch and sat down. Moments later there was a thump, then another thump, as Xander and Jesse joined her on each side of the couch. Willow was loving all the time she was spending with her friends. Mrs. Harris had taken to having Willow over as much as possible, and Mrs. McNally was watching them while Mrs. Harris was in class. They'd all take the bus home with Jesse, his mom would make them an after school snack and help them with their homework. Well some of their homework anyway, Willow was really good at taking over from her.

Willow had learned a lot from Xander's mom about babies. She'd checked out some books from the library about them, but so far had found that learning from someone who knew what she was doing had been so much better. James giggles softly as he sat in Willow's lap. Xander and Jesse began to pretend that they were falling asleep and were each leaning on one of her shoulders. Willow blushed slightly. She was really crushing hard on Xander, she couldn't help but pretend that she and Xander were married and that James was their child.

Willow was startled out of her thoughts as Jesse reached over and pulled James into his lap. James gave a surprised yelp as he hadn't been expecting. "Jesse!" Willow cried out worried. "James can't just be grabbed like that. He's not a toy, you could have hurt him."

"He's fine Willow," Jesse said assuredly, only after checking James over quickly. James was already settling into his lap comfortably.

"We're going to have to do something about that," Xander murmured softly as he threw an arm to rest on the back of the couch, his arm almost wrapping around Willow.

Willow held back a happy giggle feeling the heat from Xander's arm behind her shoulders, "What do you mean?"

"We can't have people think Jesse James has come to town can we?"

At this both Willow and Jesse laughed. Neither of them had even noticed that the name combination was that of one shared by a famous outlaw.

"Well?" Xander asked turning to look expectedly at Willow.

"What?" she asked as a frown appeared on her face.

"You're the one who named me Xander because you couldn't say Alexander, so what should we call James?"

"I think we should go with Jim," Jesse proposed while cuddling with Jim.

"Nahhh," Xander said disagreeing.

"Jamie," Willow purposed in a shy voice.

"Jamie," Xander and Jesse chorused. Xander smiled, "I like it! That's my Wills."

Willow's blush went unnoticed as Xander got up and knelt in front of Jamie. He held out his arms and Jamie almost threw himself into his big brothers' arms. Xander lifted him up effortlessly and easily carried him to the front door before opening it with a smile.

Jessica smiled at her sons, her arm still outstretched as she had been reaching for the doorbell. She always arrived about this time, and Xander had begun to expect it. She was so happy when she realized he had become used to her being a better mother. It only took moments to thank Susan for watching the kids and load Xander, Willow and the newly dubbed Jamie into the car. Jessica giggled to herself as Xander explained the new name, feeling bad for James, having all those names might get confusing, 'James 'Jamie' Harry Potter Harris' is quite a mouthful after all.

**End – Chapter 2**

_REVIEWS INSPIRE ME_

_Other story mention was from James Bond, Moonraker. All this awesome feedback is making me add some more stuff to this story to explain things and make them more plausible. So thank you all for the reviews. I think the next chapter will skip through several years and include or at least introduce Buffy. Opinion- Should Dawn arrive with Buffy?_


	4. Chapter 3

_Buffy_ is owned by Mutant Enemy and _Harry Potter_ is owned by a lot of people… No copyright infringement is intended. Fanfiction is, in my opinion, free advertisement. There are many things I've bought because I enjoyed fanfiction that crossed into a new fandom. I encourage everyone to purchase these products.

**Distracted Fate – Chapter 3**

The middle Fate is Lachesis, she who measures the threads of life. It is she who decides a person's lot in life, the one who sets a person's destiny. It's even said that she is the one who guides every soul into choosing their next life, be in man or animal. Perhaps then we could draw meaning into Xander being named Alexander, the defender of man, but then again, maybe it's just a coincidence.

As much as Xander had changed to become the best brother he could be, Jamie had changed even more. Or at least changed a lot from what would have been, after all he was growing up in a loving home. His mom was a nurse, his dad was a construction foreman, and his big brother was teaching him a new play for their touch football game. Admittedly he was not doing it very well. It wasn't like with baseball where Jesse would secretly show him the right way to do it when his brother wasn't looking.

Jamie's life was fairly normal since no one had come to look for him. Indeed, Petunia Dursley had succeeded in gaining a magic free life without her freaky nephew. She safely and happily gossiped the day away with her neighbors, day after day. Even Dumbledore was quite happy. The wards he'd placed on baby Harry were very strong, reinforced by the bonds of blood, family and home. He didn't even have to ask the widow Figg if she'd mind moving nearby to the young boy who lived, just in case. If the wards hadn't been so much stronger than he'd expected, he'd have had to rely on her and her ability to tell if the boy needed help.

Where once, Jamie would have spent his time doing chores while not at school or locked in a cupboard under the stairs, he spent his free time playing games with others. The teens, plus Jamie, had built up a normal after school schedule. They'd quickly finish their homework, mostly to set a good example for Jamie, and then play. Jessica was quite happy with this since it made Xander's grades decent, still not great though.

It affected Jamie much more. Which is why it was probably a good thing he was so outgoing. Jamie was much more grown up than the other kids his age. There were after all consequences to spending so much time with people almost 8 years older than oneself. He's rarely treated like a little kid at home, so as soon as he was able to do something he tended to do it. Willow had taught him to read, Jesse had taught him sports, and Xander had taught him how to have fun. In fact, Jamie had skipped two grades, first and third, and it wasn't because he was smarter than the other kids, but because he was so determined to be closer to his brother that he worked harder… and had Willow helping him. Interestingly enough, Willow had been offered chances to skip grades but hadn't for the same reason Jamie had; she wanted to be close to Xander.

Their parents had worried about letting someone so young skip grades and be with kids older than him. Jamie was only 8 and already in 4th grade. That isn't to say that Jamie didn't worry about things. It was right after the first time a bully had tried to corner Jamie that he had gone to Xander upset, not because he's been attacked but because he had somehow ending up on the school roof. They'd tried to talk to their parents about it but they acted like he must have run very fast or he had just forgotten getting there in his panic. They hadn't tried to discuss it with them again.

It had only taken this one attempt at bullying for it to be decided between Jessica and Susan that they'd enroll all 4 kids in self defense classes. After all none of them were going to allow Jamie to be bullied, and Xander wasn't going to let Jamie take classes without him, and where Xander went Jesse and Willow were sure to follow. After that class ended they'd talked their parents, well minus the Rosenbergs, to enroll them in other self defense classes. Willow used some of the money they'd leave her whenever they left town to pay for her classes. It was easy for her since her parents would sign any permission form she put in front of them so that was taken care of.

Willow was quickly becoming a tomboy, around her friends anyway, she was still very shy elsewhere. She couldn't help but laugh as Xander failed once again at explaining his touch football plan to Jamie. The four of them did a lot of things together. They were in their weekly game against a friend from Jamie's baseball team and his three brothers. Because Willow was allowed to act like the teen she is, she always joined the 4 on 4 games, and not just because of the possibility of seeing a sweaty Xander. This being why she didn't hesitate taking over from Xander and answered Jamie's question about the play for him. She practically lived with the Harris family and was easily able to understand Xander's thoughts, though normally Jamie was better at it. She was rarely at her parent's home, stopping by every day to check the mail and the phone, staying there only when her parents were actually there.

Once Xander was older Jessica had moved Jamie in with him so Willow would have her own room. Mrs. Harris wasn't about to let the two teenagers share a room like when they were pre-teens. Xander might still be sadly oblivious to Willow's status as a girl, but she didn't want to give them opportunities like that when he wised up. Besides, the boys loved sharing a room. They'd spend hours in it reading comics.

That night the four of them fell into a deep sleep, as one who had lived a day to the fullest should. Sadly, somewhere else in town, a beautiful newcomer was having nightmares of blood. It was the next morning when their paths would cross and their lives would change and destiny would alter once more.

Indeed, as Xander weaved through the crowd of students outside school on his skateboard, he caught sight of a beautiful girl in a very short skirt walking up the stairs and lost his concentration and slammed into the railings. Willow, who'd been heading towards the stairs to meet him reached over to help him up. She often walked with Xander to school, though she didn't really care about skateboarding, although that wasn't what happened that day.

Today she was actually early because she took an extra morning class with Ms. Calendar to learn more about computers. Twice a week she'd come in for additional lessons. Sure she knew a lot, but Ms. Calendar knew different things about them, and it was always good to be sure about information before using it. There was a very good reason no one had a clue their systems had been hacked into by her. She was even thinking about writing some programs for money, she felt bad about practically living with the Harris Family and not paying rent or anything, she wasn't about to use her parents money for something like that.

"Hey Willow!" Xander said cheerfully, as if he hadn't already seen her this morning. She'd left the house about the time he'd woken up and stumbled downstairs for breakfast. "Bestest bud! You missed an epic conversation with my parents this morning. They said if I get a B on the next math test that my curfew can go away. Please please help me."

Willow giggled softly, "There are some good books in the library. What part of the math are you having trouble with?"

"The math part," Xander explained simply.

"Okay," Willow's voice trailed off as she reached into her backback to pull out a piece of paper and a pen and began writing. "There are a couple of good books, just check them out, the ones by Dr. Charles Eppes is the best. They should be the top shelf of the bookcase facing away from the library door on the second floor. We can go over them before we go to the Bronze."

"Great! You're a life savior, Willow. I'll stop by the library when I have time."

Willow smiled, "You can meet the new librarian. He's British, he's got a great accent."

The two classmates entered the school and ran into Jesse. The guys started talking about the new girl, who no one knew anything about yet. Willow simply rolled her eyes, sometimes she was annoyed at being perceived as one of the guys and sometimes she was happy about it. This was one of the annoying times. It was oh so obvious to her that Xander thought the new girl was hot.

As the three separated to go their different ways to various classes Xander walked by the new girl. Hearing a clatter he turns around to notice her stuff on the floor. He rushed over to help her. "Can I have you," came rumbling out of his mouth before he could think. "Help you! Can I help you?" Xander sarcastically thought in his mind, 'Nice recovery, maybe she didn't notice I'm a dork.'

Buffy, the new girl, thanked him for his help and went on to class never noticing as Xander picked up the stake that had stayed fallen after picking up the rest of her stuff. Xander frowned putting it in his own bag, before smiling, 'An excuse to talk to Buffy again later.' And he had no trouble spotting her later as she was talking to Willow and Jesse as he went to their normal lunch spot in the courtyard. It was after an awkward reintroduction that Xander exchanged a weird look with Willow as Buffy made up some weird self defense reason for having a very pointy stick in her bag before she rushed off after hearing someone had died at school.

Xander entered the library to make sure that he got his books before lunch ended. When he didn't see the librarian he went to look at the books himself. As he looked through the books quietly, it is a library after all, he heard Buffy calling out to the librarian. He stayed silent and listened as she went on to have a quasi-serious conversation about vampires with the British guy. As the door closed behind her as she left all he could do was say, "What?"

Indeed, the whole experience seemed even more surreal to him as he told Jamie all about it. Jamie on the other hand just listened quietly to Xander with a serious expression on his fate. Jamie had even had a furrowed brow to accompany his frown. "Xander, I know it sounds weird, but weird things do happen. It sounds like both Buffy and this new librarian believe vampires are real."

"But vampires and vampire slayers?" Xander asked looking at Jamie like he was nuts.

"I think I turned my teacher's hair blue today."

Xander blinked, "Seriously? I never could stand him when I had him."

"The feeling was mutual, he was comparing us, saying how good a student I was compared to you, that is must be because we're not real brothers that I'm such a serious student. I got really mad at him and the next thing we all knew, he had blue hair." Jamie let out a pout and crossed his arms.

"Awww," Xander said hugging Jamie to him, right then he reminded him of a puppy dog.

Jamie turned up the puppy dog look a notch as he looked up at Xander.

Xander released him and backed up a couple of feet and before asking cautiously, "What?"

"Crazy or not, I want you to wear a cross, just in case."

"You want me to wear a cross?" Xander reached an arm back to scratch the back of his neck. This would be a tad embarrassing for him. The only cross they had in the house was an old ornate rosary. It had belonged to an aunt of his mother's who had eventually gone on to be a nun. He really didn't want to wear a rosary.

"Pleeeease?" Jamie asked seriously without loosing the puppy dog face.

"Fine fine," Xander said admitting defeat, hanging his head ever so slightly.

Xander didn't know why but having the metal from the cross resting against his flesh under his shirt as he walked to the Bronze felt comforting. It had taken a little longer than usual to finish his homework and he'd told Willow and Jesse to go on ahead of him. As he headed towards the entrance he spotted Buffy rushing out.

"What's the rush?" Xander asked. "Planning to slay some vampires?"

"What? Was there like a newsletter? Does everyone know?" Buffy said her eyes narrowing. "This doesn't matter now. Willow went off with some guy. Where would they go?"

"Willow went off with a guy?" all humor drained from Xander's face as a frown formed on it.

"Yes! Where would they go Xander?"

"There aren't a lot of hangouts in Sunnydale," Xander nervously scratched the side of his neck, thinking quickly. "The only place nearby they could go to would be the Starbucks, I think. All the other stuff is on the other side of town, near the college campus. They couldn't walk there and Willow wouldn't get into a strangers car."

"Great! Which way!?"

"This way," Xander said as he started away from the Bronze. Even if vampires weren't real, Xander wasn't about to let Willow go off with some strange guy. Who knew what he might try. Xander and Buffy ran in towards the coffee place when Xander stopped outside a gate. "Buffy? Does this guy think he's a vampire?" Xander only had to look at Buffy's face to know that she thought he was one. Without giving her time to answer he pushed open the gate. "Then they'd go through the cemetery, right?"

Buffy looked through the gate and set out quickly, almost faster than Xander could go as he barely kept up her with her. He almost bounced into her as she came to a stop and touched her stomach, almost in pain. Buffy turned with purpose and headed straight for a mausoleum, Xander following behind. Xander looked back and forth from the doorway as Buffy started talking to the weird people with his friends. They both had weird faces, and it was in this moment that Xander realized that maybe Buffy was right, there were vampires.

"Buffy, we bail now right?" Xander asked as he started to head towards panic mode. As Buffy continued speaking with the vampires who didn't want them to leave, his hands tightened until the nails bit into his skin hard enough to draw blood. He couldn't stop himself from cringing as Buffy drove a stake through the guy's heart. Then his eyes widened as the vampire exploded into dust. As the other vampire suddenly decided to take whatever was happening seriously Buffy told Xander to go. Xander rushed over to Willow and Jesse, together he and Willow supported an injured Jesse and got out of the mausoleum.

They ran as fast as they could together until they suddenly came to a stop as they came upon three vampires in front of them. As they turned to run back to the other entrance the female vampire they'd seen earlier came up behind them. Xander spared a quick moment to worry about if Buffy was alright and if she would save them before he started thinking about it himself. His eyes widened as he realized that he wasn't defenseless, Jamie had made sure he'd left the house with protection. Xander quickly let Willow hold up Jesse as he reached into his shirt and pulled out the rosary.

Xander wrapped the beads from the rosary wrap around his wrist as he palmed the cross in his hand and held it up. The vampires cringed away for a moment as Xander pushed his friends up against one of the tall graves near them. As Xander held it up, a couple drops of his dried blood, from when his nails had cut into his skin, rubbed off onto it. And although that shouldn't have been enough to do more than hold them off for a moment it did. In fact, suddenly the cross started to glow slightly, though none of the humans saw it since they were more focused on the vampires anyway. For you see, the blood wards worked against any magical being who meant harm to whom they covered. The vampires stood no chance against it and ran away.

When Buffy came running by she was happy to see that all three of her new classmates were alive. Xander was panting as if he'd been the one fighting instead of her. As Buffy reached over to support Jesse, Xander came up to help support him on the other side. Willow stood up shaking then, when Xander opened up his arm, she rushed into them. As the four of them left the cemetery Willow started trying to convince them to go to the police station only a few blocks away.

"And tell them what?" Buffy demanded. "That we were attacked by vampires? They wouldn't believe us."

"Then what should we do?" Willow asked, tears coming down her face.

"First, we should take Jesse to the hospital," Xander said frowning. "That vampire," he paused for a moment, "bit him, he should see a doctor."

Jesse stumbled for a moment himself, "I'm not going to be a vampire, am I?"

"No," Buffy said quickly trying to prevent Jesse from a panic attack. "There has to be a blood exchange and you have to die first."

"Oh… Good." Jesse was almost dead on his feet. Xander had ripped his shirt and attempted to slow the bleeding as much as possible, but he'd still lost a lot of blood.

Buffy followed Xander's lead as he led them to the hospital where his mother worked. Xander stopped as he spotted his mother. "Mom!" he called out.

Jessica turned when she heard her son's voice. She barely stopped herself from gasping as she realized he was all but holding Jesse up. She rushed over, while giving orders to other nurses. It was almost a blur as they all ended up in a room, Jessica quickly asking her kids questions to help Jesse. As Jesse started getting a transfusion, Jessica turned to the others, questions in her eyes. All she said though was, "Are you both alright?"

As they both confirmed they were fine Jessica reached over and pulled them both into a hug. Jessica sighed with a relief when she finally noticed the other girl with them. Jessica pulled back from the hug.

Xander noticed her look and made a quick introduction, "Mom, this is Buffy. Buffy, this is my mom, she's one of the night nurses here at Sunnydale General."

"Um," Buffy started out unsure of what to say, this wasn't a good way to meet anyone's parent.

Jessica smiled, sensing Buffy's uneasiness, "Hello Buffy. This isn't how I normally meet my son's friends. I know this isn't the ideal way to meet anyone, but it's nice to meet you, as long as this isn't how I'm normally going to meet you."

"Oh! Uh, no. I try to avoid hospitals. Err, I mean…" Buffy's voice trailed off, unsure of how to not stick her foot in her mouth.

Jessica giggled before turning to look more closely at Jesse. She'd made sure all the kids had all their hospital work done in case of emergencies, though she'd hoped it'd never be needed. As she looked more closely at Jesse's wound that one of the other nurses cleaned and disinfected it. Her brow wrinkled up in deep thought as she turned to Xander, "Were you attacked?"

"How did you know?"

"There is a gang on PCP that attacks people with barbeque forks."

"Barbeque forks?" Xander, Willow and Buffy all said in unison.

"You didn't know?"

After a quick exchange of looks Buffy spoke up, "It just happened so fast, we didn't know what they were attacking us with."

"Yeah," Willow said speaking up. "We were more focused on their faces. Um. I mean... Um."

"They were wearing masks, right?" Jessica said turning back to Jesse, who was practically unconscious.

"Yeah…"

"Mrs. Harris?" Willow said cautiously.

"Hm?" Jessica murmured softly as she gently brushed the hair back from Jesse's face with her fingers. She didn't know how she was going to tell Susan that Jesse was in the hospital.

"Do you get a lot of barbeque fork attacks here?"

Jessica turned back to look at Willow. "Actually, yes, we do." Jessica looked on confused as the three tends before her exchanged looks. Her attention returned to Jesse as he turned and moaned. She began to whisper words of courage to him.

It wasn't much later that the three healthy teens were walking home. Jessica had ordered the kids to go straight home. She would take care of Jesse's paperwork and call his mom. She'd also call Buffy's mom to let her know that Buffy would be spending the night with them, they'd stop by at her home before school for her to change and get her school stuff. The three walked until the arrived at the Harris home. The three had quickly come to an agreement to think everything over and talk about it in the morning with Giles.

Buffy had quickly realized that she had to be more careful to make sure she wasn't overheard since Xander told her that was how he'd known she was the slayer. That she might not want to be the slayer, but knowing that both Jesse and Willow could have died if she hadn't been there gave her a little more focus. Willow had found it somewhat fascinating and was thinking things over on how she could help protect herself and her family. Xander walked into his room, hugged Jamie, who'd stayed up studying while waiting for Xander. The two of them spoke things over as best they could before the two of them went to sleep, next door to Willow and Buffy, who was oddly okay with sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor next to Willow's bed.

Xander stood as Willow sat nearby the next morning in the library as Mr. Giles spoke of the mystical history of the Earth. Xander couldn't deny the existence of vampires and demons anymore. While little knowing that beneath the city the vampires were talking with the Master who were in turn discussing the strangely strong girl who knew their weaknesses and dusted one of their comrades. That strangely strong girl was of course, Buffy. It turned out that Buffy is the Slayer, the one girl in all the world given the abilities to hunt the demons.

As Willow sat at the computer, doing her part to help by accessing the city plans to figure out where the vampires that almost got them were hiding, Buffy was upset with herself. She couldn't help but worry about what might have happened if Xander hadn't had a cross on him. Would they all be dead? It would have been her fault for fighting her destiny. What if she had listened to Giles earlier, could she have prevented things, made it so the others wouldn't have to worry about vampires getting them. As all these what ifs filled her mind, Giles tried to reassure her.

Buffy exploded, "You were the one who said I wasn't prepared enough. Understatement! I thought I was on top of everything! And then that monster, Luke, came out of nowhere…" Buffy's voice trailed off she remembered how out of nowhere he'd come.

"What?" Xander asked concerned.

"He didn't come from nowhere, he came from behind me." Buffy couldn't help but think and even say she was an idiot for not realizing that there must have been a secret entrance to the underground tunnels in the mausoleum. Buffy shook her head as Xander offered to help her. She wasn't going to let anyone else risk their life, besides she didn't need to confront them now.

"I do want to help, I need to," Willow said looking up at Buffy as Xander moved behind her muttering about how he wasn't even a man since he wasn't a slayer.

"Well, then help me," Giles said speaking up. He could use all the help he could learning more about the Harvest. "It seems to be some sort of pre-ordained massacre, rivers of blood, hell on Earth. I'm a bit fuzzy, however, on the details. It might be you can get some details from that dread machine."

The three looked at him funny, "That was quite British wasn't it? I want you to go on the net."

Willow nodded. It wasn't much later when they all rose somewhat reluctantly to head for class. Willow brought out her notebook as they left the library and they discussed different words for Willow to look for.

"Unexplained. Did you get natural disasters? Rain of toads, do you think they have anything on that in the paper?" Xander asked as they walked.

"I'll put it in the computer search. If it's there it'll come up, anything that will lead to vampires," Willow explained before Buffy had to double back to her locker.

Once Buffy was out of sight he spoke up again, "And I in the mean time will stand around like an idiot." As Willow reassured him that they just wanted him to be safe, they couldn't help but realize how much there worries had changed in one day. After all, now they were worrying about rains of toads. As long as it wasn't frogs was left unsaid. Willow's fear of frogs was legendary.

"Nobody knows," Xander said shrugging, looking around the school hallway at all the people who didn't know that there were vampires in town. "It's like we've got this big secret."

"We do," Willow paused for a moment just looking at Xander. "That's what a secret is. When you know something that other guys don't."

They were interrupted by the bell ringing. Xander sighed as he reached up self-consciously to pat his shirt above the rosary cross before entering the classroom with Willow. They'd continue this once class was over anyway. Xander couldn't help but to worry about Jesse who was still in the hospital for observation.

Giles was sitting in the library translating a book before him.

Willow was sitting at her computer during class creating her own supernatural tracking program. That didn't stop her from tricking Cordelia from deleting her program, since she had been bad mouthing Buffy.

Buffy and Xander were both bored out of their minds in their classes… They couldn't really help Giles or Willow in their research.

After school they all gathered in the library. Giles spoke, "This is what we know. Some 60 years ago, a very old, very powerful vampire came to this shore not just to feed."

"But because this town is a mystical whosit?" Buffy interrupted.

"Yes. The Spanish colonists that settled here called it Boco del Inferno, roughly translated, Hellmouth. A sort of portal from this reality to the next. This vampire hoped to open it."

"Bring the demons back," Buffy straightened in her chair and stared at Giles.

Xander, who had paced slowly back and forth behind Buffy, stood still, "The end of the world."

Willow squirmed in her seat and burst out with, "But he blew it. Or, there was an earthquake that swallowed half the town, him too."

"This portal thing is delicate, chances are he got himself stuck," Giles explained.

"And this Harvest thing is to get him out," Xander said simply from the conclusion he'd drawn.

"It comes once in a century, on this night," Giles nodded. "The Master can draw power from one of his minions when it feeds. With enough power he can break free and open the portal. He's called the Vessel and will bear this symbol." Giles drew a three pointed star on the white board.

Buffy rose and walked closer to the drawing, "So I dust anyone sporting this symbol and no Harvest."

"Simply put, yes."

"Any idea where this thing is going to be?"

"The Bronze," Xander said speaking up. "All those tender young morsels... Trust me, that's where it's gotta be."

"Alright," Giles said agreeing with Xander's conclusion. "We better hurry, the sun will be down soon."

"I gotta make a stop first," Buffy said as they opened the door.

"For what?"

"Supplies."

"We'll come with you," Xander offered. After a quick look at Giles's car the offer was quickly followed with a, "Let's walk there."

"What supplies are we getting?" Willow asked after making sure Giles would meet them at the Bronze.

"Stakes, holy water, things like that," Buffy explained.

"Wow. And your parents are okay with that?"

"Mom doesn't know. I've got it all in a secret bottom in my trunk."

Xander frowned, "Where did you get one of those?"

"My first Watcher got it for me when I was called. We're not supposed to tell people about vampires."

"Oh. So your mom doesn't know?"

"Nope. She's got no idea that that's why I was in trouble so much this past year."

Xander and Willow exchanged looks as they walked, neither had missed the lack of dad comments, but weren't going to ask about it. They knew, from personal experience, how awkward things like that could be. No matter why she didn't mention him, they wouldn't comment on it, probably wouldn't even think about it really. They were more curious about the first watcher statement, but could tell Buffy didn't want to talk about that.

The sun was almost setting by the time they reached Buffy's home. Almost as soon as they entered the house Buffy rushed upstairs to get ready leaving her friends downstairs, with her mother.

"Hello," Xander said offering his hand. He held back thoughts on how hot Buffy's mom was, he was happy to note that that probably meant Buffy would still be hot when she was her age. Xander was actually fairly good at talking to people, it was Willow who had trouble talking with it.

Mrs. Summers happily shook his hand, thinking to herself that he seemed nice, and Willow who shook her hand nervously seemed very nice as well. She smiled thinking that having normal friends like these kids would really help Buffy adjust and not act out like she had in L.A. She hadn't really had the chance to talk to them much, but she had had a very long talk with Jessica, Xander's mom, earlier that day. In fact it hadn't been much different than now with Buffy rushing upstairs to get ready and making her friends wait. In fact, the three teens had walked to school from the Summers residence that morning.

Joyce Summers had been concerned at first that maybe her daughter was getting into trouble again, but Willow had assured her that Buffy'd just been looking out for her. Jessica had warned Joyce there was a small gang of people who took drugs and wore masks. Xander had assured her that they took their personal safety and those of their friends very seriously. It had actually been right then that Xander had realized all of them should take some first aid classes as well as self defense classes and had asked his mom about that with Willow nodding next to him. Jessica had, of course, agreed. She'd taught Xander and Willow some first aid years before, but realized after seeing Jesse hurt that wanting to know more was something they'd probably feel necessary. Joyce had warmed up to them immediately.

Buffy hurried down the stairs with a quick bye to her mom. Joyce turned to them as they all left the house. "Be careful," she called after them. She couldn't help but worry since they'd only been attacked the previous day. She didn't notice that Buffy had quickly gone around to the side of the house to grab the bag of supplies she'd thrown out the window before rejoining her friends in front of the house as they hurried to meet Giles at the Bronze.

They arrived at the Bronze just after the sun set. They'd only just missed the vampires entering the building and locking the door. Buffy quickly separated from the others who headed towards the back entrance. As Buffy climbed the building, Xander rifled through the bag Buffy had given them. It took several minutes but they were able to break open the back door. Xander looked around quickly before rushing to where the people were being held, he grabbed the arm of the person closest to him and started herding them to the back door. One the vampires noticed him and grabbed him from behind. Xander tried to free himself but wasn't able to, his eyes widened as he saw Buffy throwing a cymbal at him and ducked his head as the vampire lost his and turned to dust.

Xander grabbed a stake from Buffy's bag just in case another came after him and went back to helping the other escape. He managed to dust one vampire, but another two grabbed him. As he stood there, Buffy turned to look up over Luke's ashes, they released him and ran.

"I take it it's over?" Giles asked as Xander and Buffy joined he and Willow at the exit.

"Did we win?" asked Willow.

"We averted the apocalypse," Buffy said softly, "give us points for that."

"One thing for sure," Xander stated as Buffy picked up her coat, "Nothings ever gonna be the same."

**End – Chapter 3**

_REVIEWS INSPIRE ME_

_I rearranged stuff a couple of times, I hope it isn't noticeable. I had to watch the episodes again to write this. It's the first time I've written much going on concurrently with the show. This is the longest chapter I have ever written. I was going to write the whole first season in this chapter but… Well… This was supposed to be a short story!_

_Other story mention: Numb3rs_


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